Kindle Kindle Kindle

The Kindle. An amazing reading device. My new best friend. My new obsession. It takes me away to unlimited worlds. It teaches me unlimited things.

So yeah, I pretty much LOVE Amazon's Kindle 2. I think everyone should have one. The e-ink technology is pretty cool with how it's gentle on the eyes and refreshes nicely from page to page and having free wireless service (the same type used for cell phones) to get online right from the device and download books makes one feel like they own the world in one little skinny device.

I recently revamped my Kindle with the Mora skin from decalgirl.com and I also revamped the cover (additional cost) made exclusively by Amazon that takes advantage of the hinge holes on the side of the Kindle. I didn't want any fabric tabs covering the corners on my Kindle. I just don't like the way that looks, so I opted for the Amazon cover instead of the (expensive) Cole Haan.

So this is my bare white Kindle before:


And the cover before:
And this is the Kindle after, with Decal Girl's "Mora" skin applied, along with the revamped cover of red faux crocodile/snake fabric wrapped over the outer shell:

See the hinges that fit in the 2 holes? Love it. That's the only way for me. Velcro or corner tabs just aren't my thing.

It was pretty easy to revamp the cover or rather maybe I just chose to go the easy route. The inner soft part is just glued on so I carefully pulled that apart making sure I didn't bend anything too much. After that I just covered the outer part with my red fabric, using fabric glue and making sure everything was snug and smooth which was really easy to do. Then I reglued the soft inner part back on and voila!, a revamped Kindle case that fits my style more.

I had bought a whole yard of the red faux crocodile/snake fabric so I have plenty left. I may see what kind of handbag I can make with it and be all matchy-matchy with the Kindle case.

No Stress Chess

My son's birthday was on the 28th of January--he is now 7 years old! We gave him a Super Mario Bros. themed birthday party that following Saturday. My parents sent him an Amazon e-gift certificate which part of it I used to order him No Stress Chess. Gavin and I played this together tonight and it is such a neat way to get kids to remember the chess pieces' names and how they move on the board. Gavin was delighted and excited all throughout the game. We played 2 rounds before I noticed it was past his bedtime. He wanted to keep playing.


The game uses cards which show how the pieces move. It is called No Stress because with the beginner style game you just abide by which card you draw. If you draw a knight card, then that is what you must move if you can. The game is still quite exciting even though it allows you to be able to take more risks. And you don't have to use the cards to play but it IS a fun alternative style along with it being a great learning aid for kids (and even for adults!).

Gavin has set his alarm to wake up earlier tomorrow morning because he wants to play when he wakes up before school! I am so happy he is enjoying this chess game so much because he really likes playing Monopoly and I think this outshines Monopoly for him by far. I must say I hate Monopoly so much. To me, having to sit and play Monopoly is like being forced to sit through torture. I just get so bored and restless with that game, so much so that I feel like jumping out of my chair, screaming and running out the door. So I am ecstatic about my boy learning all about chess now! Chess is a game that keeps me engaged.

One day I will buy Gavin a really nice chess set for his room. I still want one of those Alice in Wonderland ones for myself. Brian has one that I bought for him some years back that is really cool. I think everyone should have a chess set that really reflects their own style.

In Carbonation Heaven!

Today I received my main birthday present from the hubby and son (I have to mention Gavin since he makes sure I know that he is included in who got the gift for me). I'm just now receiving my gift because the company was closed for the holidays and New Year inventory. Oh the things I have to deal with in having an early January birthday.

But all is well now because I now have in my hands a soda maker - a lovely beverage carbonator. I got the simple looking one but there are others available like the very sleek penguin styled one. We couldn't justify spending that extra money though, but it really does look nice. What I did do though is make sure I had those beautiful glass carafes that are made for the penguin one. I have 3 in all. You cannot use the glass carafes with the other models during the carbonation process but you can use them to pour your soda or seltzer water in for a more beautiful look. It feels and looks very sophisticated to store and pour from them. But it is good to know that the plastic ones that come with the basic model are BPA-free!



I must admit, I asked for the soda maker in high hopes of being able to make "raw sodas" and carbonated lemon green tea drinks like the expensive ones they sell in stores. You are only suppose to carbonate pure water and then add the flavorings afterwards but I attempted to carbonated a mixed berry juice and it turned out so good! You do have to watch and wait carefully though when carbonating to make sure the juice/foam doesn't expand and spill out. But omg, I made sparkling juice that was so bubbly and nice! I know I need to make sure the juice I'm using is pulp-free since carbonation goes smoothly with pure clear water.

I'm completely loving my new soda maker! I just love devices that help make eating healthier so not a big deal AT ALL whatsoever!

"Santa Claus looks different."

This is a photo of my son Gavin at about 11 months - his very first photo with Santa. The other day he found this photo in a drawer and looked at it confused. Recently, his school had Santa Claus visit them for photos. Gavin asked me why the Santa in the photo looked different from the one that visited his school and then continued on to say that this Santa in the photo was not the real Santa. He did say the Santa that visited his school was the real one though.

We have a couple more photos of him with different Santas each year.

Our Golden Yule Tree!

I finally have photos to share of our golden Yule tree. The funny thing is that I had to go really cheap with the ornaments (bought today at the last minute) but hopefully next year I'll have some ornaments that I really like and adore.

I took like 87 photos!!! I didn't know I took so many until I plugged my camera into the computer to upload. It's like a vortex you go into where you just lose time I guess taking photos, because 87 photos of a tree just doesn't make any sense at all! I picked out 8. I think the photos really don't do the tree any justice but here they are:

Play-Doh PacMan

Brian and Gavin made this neat little thing today together: a PacMan game scene out of Play-Doh!

Happy Thanksgiving!!!

Happy Thanksgiving EVERYONE!! I hope your day is filled with lots of love and joy and many reasons to be thankful!!!

Fireplace Blues

I am so tired right now and my back hurts. Just got through putting the logs back into the fireplace after trying to figure out how to relight the pilot in there. Earlier Gavin rushed to me saying he had to tell me something, that he "blew out the fire". It was the fireplace pilot light he blew out. I cannot believe he did that when he knows not to mess with the fireplace at all and all of a sudden he can't help himself but to BLOW at the little pilot fire. He now knows that things like that can be very dangerous, that gas can lead to houses being blown up and people dying. I could have sworn I told him it was dangerous before, but now I really had to let him know how morbid things can get. Hey, it's the truth. He seemed to really get the message.

I AM glad that he felt the urgent need to tell me though.

I called the gas company and the lady I spoke to said everything was fine as long as I didn't smell gas (which I don't) and for me to call tomorrow to find out when someone is available to come relight it. I called my dad, and of course he said lots of "Oh shits", he doesn't even like candles being lit in his house for fear of a fire being accidentally started. But he made sure also that I didn't smell any gas. They have a fireplace that needs to be relighted too!

Looks like I'm waiting for Brian to come home to see if he can manage to relight it. We spent much time on the phone with each other on the internet looking at how to fix this mess. Our fireplace does NOT have that little red ignite button. Things would be so simple if it did. And honestly I cannot specifically find the pilot light area anyway! I even took photos to send to Brian to see if you could see something I couldn't see. Nothing. I guess we have to wait until he gets home in a few days.

He did have me turn off the gas valve in there though.

I wonder how much it costs to have the gas company come relight it. I'll find out tomorrow. I bet it's a ridiculous price, though I hope I am wrong.

Brian says he has birds too!

Brian sent this cell phone video to Gavin of some seagulls on his truck. The caption he sent along with it is what's funny. It said, "I got birds too.", in reference to my new birds. Silly Brian! What's also funny is that Gavin took him serious at first, thinking his daddy had some new birds! Silly Gavin!

White Java Finches

My java finches came today! They are so pretty! I absolutely adore their beaks, it has got to be the main factor on why I like them (other than their birdsong of course!). I have a male and female couple. Only the male of the species actually sings a tune though the female does make a noise. My male was already singing a bit after he got use to being in his new surroundings, which I was extremely happy about. I have new and more natural branch perches coming soon to replace the ugly bulky perches that came with the cage. That'll really add a more natural look to the cage and better suit the birds.

Female on left, male on right.

Female.

Male.

Gavin is excited about having pet birds. He wanted to stay up later to be with them. I told him he could get ready for school near them in the morning and he looked at me like I was crazy and said, "They'll see me naked!"

Anyhow, I still need to name them. I usually name animals Asian names and words, so more than likely I'll go that route.

A Grim Reaper Halloween!

Gavin had a blast being scary for the first time for Halloween. He chose this costume himself. I ended up inverting the colors of some of the photos I took of him and I think they turned out good - a perfect vibe for Halloween photos.

Click to enlarge this inverted closeup. It's freaky good!

Hope everyone had a nice Halloween! Sadly, I didn't have any trick-or-treaters come to the house, and Brian bought GOOD candy. We would have been considered one of the "good candy houses", but alas, no faeries, witches, or monsters stopped by.

Brian took Gavin across the street to explore the neighborhood over there for Gavin to trick-or-treat at, and I was really surprised when they came back with his bag full of candy. Supposedly, the houses that were giving out candy were so happy that someone actually stopped by to trick-or-treat that they gave Gavin handfuls!

I'm glad he had fun.

Oh, something really tacky but funny, someone handed out pink wrapped "It's A Girl" mints.

Tinker Bell - The Movie

I preordered Tinker Bell on Blu-ray. I'm excited!!! It comes out on video on the 28th, so I should have it on the Thursday or Friday after that. I just love faeries! And I'm excited about a movie that has a black faerie! You don't see that all that often which makes me so sad. In the movie, Arthur and the Invisibles, I absolutely loved the part where the dreadlocked Jamaican-like Minimoys starred. That was extremely cool!

I actually only recently got into "Tinker Bell" when my friend Liz lead me to the Disney website where you can make your own faery and decorate her room along with other neat features. Check it out!

Gavin's Fall Festival

Today I took my son to his school's Fall Festival. It was fun seeing him enjoying himself so much, the school had some cute games available including a hay ride with a tractor. Supposedly the girl he likes was there as well but he didn't even point her out to me! I so wanted to see! He assumes I know who everyone is when I really don't. It was cute seeing kids come up to him to say hi though. I'm just glad he's made new friends coming from a different school. His teacher was there selling ice cream and his bus driver was there helping out with the bounce house (which by the way Gavin was way too cautious in). Below are some photos from the festival.

Getting his hair dyed.

Curly polka dotted colored hair!

Smile!

With the Chick-Fil-A Cow! Haha!

Car Bash!

I think it's so funny the Car Bash was so popular. People love hitting things!

Delicious Raisins!

Raisins that are delicious? Before yesterday I would say that was completely an oxymoron. I rarely buy raisins, the main reason being is that they aren't anything special, but another reason being is that if they aren't organic you are taking in a concentrated from of pesticides being that they are a concentrated form of grapes. Concerning mass, you are eating more of the grapes in dried form compared to eating them in their fresh juicy form.

Well, last night I finally opened up a box of organic raisins I bought from Harris Teeter, the raisins are their store brand. I bought them mainly for when I make a Waldorf Salad type of meal. I am very rarely in the mood for just straight raisins, only when it seems I want something sweet but there really isn't anything around at the moment. I didn't have high expectations in the raisins, I mean they ARE just raisins.



But when I ate few I noticed their texture was different from what I was use to, seemed to have a little sugary slight crunch to them while still being moist. And then WOW, it was a total pleasant surprise - it tasted like candy! I quickly looked at the ingredients on the box to make sure what I was eating didn't have any "added sugar" or anything, but nope the ingredients just listed "organic raisins".

So there I was just eating away at this newly found delicious taste making me so content at the world at hand and in comes my son. Of course he wonders what I am eating and has to have some. The same reaction comes from him as well, he finds them so good! Then he gets even more excited when he learns they are organic! He is so cute.

So it looks like after 28 almost 29 years, I finally like raisins. Maybe all this time they just had to be organic. Organic food does seem to taste better.

Wish List - Gold Tree

I'm amazed by this tree. It's stunning! I would totally do the feather decoration with it as in the photo because that looks SO GOOD! I did always want a white tree and to decorate it with silvery things but this golden tree is like a pure dream and fantasy.

The School's Neighbor

Next door to my son's school lives this horse. I now realize that I really need to start bringing my camera with me wherever I go - you never know what you could run into! This photo was taken by cell phone. I really wanted to get a great zoomed in high quality photo. Maybe next time!

Proud Momma of a Super Reader!

Today we went to Gavin's Open House to talk with his teacher in his classroom. I've always known Gavin was an amazing reader for his age but it was nice to hear a confirmation of it from a teacher. She told us that he was actually taken out of class to be tested for his reading and the lady who was testing him came back to the classroom to tell her that she needed another book because Gavin knew all of the words. He passed the 1st and 2nd grade levels, so in all Gavin reads on a 3rd grade level and he is only in the 1st grade. She let us know that not everyone gets picked to be tested like that! I'm so proud of him!

My Wii Fit Age!

I am so terribly embarrassed to say that when I started out using the Wii Fit, my "Wii Fit Age" was an astounding 38 years (I'm 28!). This is based on a couple of tests that you have to do. I am happy to announce that TODAY my Wii Fit Age is now an impressive 21! What a huge improvement a daily routine can deliver!

I truly love doing yoga with the balance board. Because of it, I am able to specifically see if I am balancing myself properly with the poses. Since I don't go to yoga classes, this is the next best thing in being critiqued in your poses. For a majority of the poses, I am considered the full rank of a "Yoga Master" while the others I am one star/notch down at a "Yoga Trainer".

There are 2 yoga poses that I totally suck on though but I am getting so much better, at least I'm not only one star with them anymore. One star is "Unbalanced". I struggle really hard just to get 2 stars, but before even if I struggled really hard, it just wasn't happening! I still haven't even unlocked all of the yoga poses though, but my son has for his account. He's a monster!

Strength training is not my forte. If you look at my color coded graph of the types of exercises I'm doing every day, the color for strength is barely there! My upper strength has always sucked. My wrists and ankles have always been so weak! Seriously, just attempting one push-up makes my wrists feel like they are about to BREAK! I kid you not! I am slowly starting to do more and more strength exercises though. I hate being weak, about time I do something about it.

Loving the Wii and Wii Fit

The Wii Fit if so neat! It's a great way to set fitness goals and visually keep track of how you are doing with graphs and test results. Silly me, it didn't even register in my head that the Balance Board weighs also! I think I associated all fitness games with Yourself Fitness and other fitness games where you have to weigh with your own scale and manually enter that information in each time. I feel like the Balance Board is magic! Ha!

I haven't done much at all of ALL that is available to do, but the hula hoop game really makes me sweat! I try my best to get as many spins in as possible and then all of a sudden, you are sweating! You get to make your own little character beforehand (to use with other games as well) and doing that is really fun and cute. Gavin made his character with a beard! I think because of that cartoon The Misadventures of Flapjack - because men with beards are the TRUE ADVENTURERS!

This is my "Mii", aren't I cute in the Wii World? And to the right is Gavin's "Mii" with his beard, funny!

So "cute" seems to be my word for the whole Wii thing though. The graphics are very kiddy with it being more of a kiddy system, but of course that is why we bought a Wii in the first place for Gavin. But for the more "beautiful" games that can be played in High Definition, if available on the PS3 we are definitely going that route. It just seems a shame to downgrade on the quality of how a game looks if you can see and play it in yummy HD.

But I love the whole cutesy thing, so Wii Fit is wonderful to me! Gavin enjoys the Wii Fit as well, today in all he racked up a whole hour worth of "working out". Somewhere in there, the game told him to take a break and to make sure he drinks enough water! Ha!

I'm off to rack up some more minutes in my Wii "Fit Bank"...

My Silly Sweaty Boy